A 23-year-old man was arrested Friday, Dec. 11, in connection with a Coachella Valley mosque fire that officials are investigating as a possible hate crime.

Coachella police arrested Carl J. Dial Jr. at 8:58 p.m., in the 77-700 block of Country Club Drive, in Palm Desert, jail records show. Dial is being held on suspicion of several felony crimes, including commission of a hate crime, arson and burglary, according to a release from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

Dial is being held at the Indio jail, according to the release.

The blaze began around noon Friday at the Masjid Ibrahim Mosque in the 84000 block of Avenue 49 in Coachella. Reymundo Nour, the mosque’s acting imam, said people there described hearing a “loud boom” and seeing flames. He said the mosque had been “fire-bombed.”

Smoke and flames were visible when firefighters arrived at the 1,800-square-foot building, and it took about 10 minutes to contain the blaze to the front lobby, according to a Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department news release. Smoke damage was reported throughout the mosque, with firefighters checking for other damage. The fire was extinguished by 12:46 p.m.

The facility was hit by gunfire in November 2014 in what authorities investigated as a possible hate crime. No one was injured in that incident.

Riverside County Sheriff’s Department officials are calling the latest incident a possible hate crime, and federal officials have stepped in to assist with the investigation.

Riverside County 4th District Supervisor John Benoit said although law enforcement officials haven’t confirmed who threw a flammable device at the mosque, the local consensus is the attack appears to be retaliatory.

“If in fact this was an individual targeting a mosque, believing there were Muslims there . . . it’s reprehensible, an act of terrorism,” Benoit said. “Violence is not a good answer for violence.”